Here is hoping everyone has a good new year. 2006 is already shaping up to be a big year for gaming. With the introduction of the Sony Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Revolution, we are going to get a full picture of what next-gen gaming has to offer. Hopefully it won't break our bank accounts to find out what that picture will be. Also with deployment of better hardware, developers will be able to produce better titles. Now whether they do depends on the competition between developers–so it is interesting to see what Electronics Arts is going to do with all those exclusive sports agreements (see previous coverage). Also, be prepared to hear about more of the gaming industry and government colliding in the courtroom. The “Hot Coffee” mod in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (see previous coverage) awakened a sleeping giant in the form of the US Government trying to create legislation to limit children's access to mature titles. So, good or bad, let's hope your gaming in 2006 is enjoyable and better still–affordable. Cheers and Happy New Year!

USER COMMENTS 26 comment(s)

bring on 2006(9:20pm EST Fri Dec 30 2005)I'm sure to have a great 2006. My clan is expanding, I just got a new house. - by NearCry

I just hope the developers start dropping support for some consoles. It's got to be tough developing games for 10+ portables/consoles. - by DNFin2k6

Smut in Games(10:44am EST Sat Dec 31 2005)Handle them like all adult content and rate it. You can go to video rental shops and rent XXX crap. I for one don't care for the swearing in games, there is no need for it.As for new games I am looking forward to the release of Dragon Age from Bioware (PC only you consol fanboys) and Duke Nukem 4. Also any good shooter games especially if they use the Doom3 engine like Quake 4 does.As for the consols I will let everyone else clutter their living rooms and dens up with them and I will keep it all in one spot with my PC, the FPS gamers hardware of choice.Battlefield 2 online rocks. - by Regulas

ha!(11:13am EST Sat Dec 31 2005)” just hope the developers start dropping support for some consoles.”

As opposed to the multitude of system configuration with pc/mac? Give me a break. At least with a console you have an idea what kind of specs you're building for.

Or do you enjoy having to upgrade you pc every year to play the latest games? - by Coldname

cool(1:12pm EST Sat Dec 31 2005)i was just searching the web and i was bored so i went on geek.com and there really s one so yea that is really cool but i want to play GAMES!!!!!!!!!! - by ?>?>?>?>?>?>?>?>

The internet poses much worse XXX problems(1:23pm EST Sat Dec 31 2005)Before parents were worried about their kids seeing some air brushed model in a magazine, but the web allows kids to see hardcore sex in a much more diverse and graphic situtations. With directories, kids and see new pictures of every fetish and perversion on a daily basis. - by sad

RE: Coldname(10:53pm EST Sat Dec 31 2005)Thats why we have Direct X for the PC. If you write it to work in direct X it will work on PC's. As far as sound goes there are a couple that game developers support and it's the hardware makers that have to fall in line. Video goes the same way. Basically there are two card makers for developers to worry about.Actually the PC lifecycle is the same length as the consols. I am going to have a PC anyway for the net and music and such so I choose to do all my gaming on it too instead of buying more hardware to play games on. At least I know mine is more backward compatible than the XBox 360 is with the first Xbox. - by Regulas

India(12:57pm EST Sun Jan 01 2006)I predict even more games will be developed using cheap offshore developers in places like Bangalore. Most games I have seen in the past three years are shallow re-skins of old gaming engines. I don't anticipate any real change here, except for even more stale remakes. The gaming industry like the movie industry has become very corporate, and you know how managers love to be involoved!!! - by GH

2005 wasn't to bad(4:12pm EST Sun Jan 01 2006)With games like Far Cry, Call of Duty, Half-Life2 and Fear. I had a good time playing these game on a new graphic card. The swearing in Fear added a little extra to the game, I love it when the enemy says “Fuk” after I eliminated his squad. Bring it on 2006, can't wait.

Happy New Years- by FearNot

a toast(4:40pm EST Sun Jan 01 2006)and line to ps3 release - by me

Bring on 2006 and(12:41am EST Mon Jan 02 2006)HALO 3 - by GOTY

Lack of Logic from a ultra conservative(3:41am EST Mon Jan 02 2006)Lack of originality will kill this year off. Game concepts and haven't changed in the past 5 years. 2006 will be another year of predicatable gameplay and the Powerfull blunders.

Except for Splinter Cell I'm not looking forward to anything. - by dddd

Coldname(1:14pm EST Tue Jan 03 2006)Games for PC's are pretty much standardized. Your using DirectX for PC games making what hardware you use moot.

True, you may have problems with certain hardware and driver support as new generations always offer something new, but in general, game development for the PC is usually painless with regards to compatibility, unlike the days of DOS.

I wish PC's would start offering an instant-on feature, the ability to boot directly into a game on insertion of the game disk. Make part of the OS lie on a solid state drive embedded in the motherboard. Certainly more can be done to make a PC act more like a game console then what has been done.

PC's will always be cutting edge. While everyone spazes out on the Xbox360 or PS3, nVidia/ATI will simply offer a new next-gen video card a few months later that blows games consoles out of the water. By the end of a game consoles 3 – 5 year lifespan, a PC will have evolved more then 6 times.

But, you pay through the nose for it with a PC, and staying cutting-edge doesn't always pay off as few games truely are able to take advantage of new hardware once it is released. Console game devleopers target the specific unchanging hardware of the game console.

There are pro and cons on both sides, I prefer to keep my PC up-to-date, most of the really fun and addicting games I have played on my PC, it just offers a level of interaction that can't be dupliated on a game console with its gamepad. I hate playing RPG's on game consoles because there are too many comprimises to gameplay whereas you have a full keyboard to assign commands to on the PC.

My biggest beef in the game industry is, start making more exclusive titles. Why buy an Xbox360 if you can get the same game on the PS3 or PC, with largely the same graphics. Why buy both the Xbox360 and PS3 or maintain a PC when games drift back and forth between platforms.

I think 2006 will mark the end of really any difference in the quality of games between platforms, all will offer largely similar graphics and performance, so it really boils down to exclusivity and game play. Make a game that is a clone of another franchise and offering it on 8 platforms will not make the game successful. Make a game unique and exclusive to a specific platform will drive sales up. - by Topher

revolution(9:03pm EST Wed Jan 11 2006)is gonna be the best out of the 3. its gonna own sony jus like the ds beat the psp - by N-quality

just face it(9:14pm EST Fri Jan 20 2006)this blurb here receives more comments than any other blurb on this site if u want to join,go ahead. u'll get a reply every day instead of waiting days(or even weeks) for another person to post back to u. we can talk about ds vrs psp,next gen,etc… note: the blurb is swarming with nintendo fans and any sony or ms fanboys who talk smack about nintendo r gonna get flamed.

p.s. i'll be posting this on multiple parts of this site - by revolution owns!!!